The Nurserymen of Paris 
RHODODENDRONS IN TUBS 
The illustrations show several ol the more popular 
shapes in vogue in Paris, such as the pyramides 
ailees, the candelahres d cinq pans, the tiges avec 
tete formee, the U doubles, and the palmettes d cinq 
branches. Pear and apple trees are the ones most 
generally cultivated in this way in France. Pear 
trees especially prove amenable to such treatment. 
They furnish excellent fruit, whether treated en 
espalier, that is trained on a rectangular metal 
lattice work against a wall, or growing free; the 
candelabra, the single band growing in parallel lines 
on one side of the stem, and the pahnette are most 
used. In the pahnette the branches are superposed 
on both sides in parallel lines, first horizontal and 
then vertical in direction. This affords a very 
agreeable effect in vegetable gardens, but demands 
the services of the most experienced gardeners. The 
amateur will do well therefore, to adopt the simpler 
forms if he lacks the necessary skill to train the 
pahnette. The candelabra of four or five branches 
is easy to execute, and for this one chooses a graft 
of a year old which is cut hack for half its length. 
In the following year the stem is cut back to within 
thirty centimetres of the ground, keeping only two 
branches, one on the right, the other on the left. 
When they have attained about a metre’s growth, 
one trains them first horizontally and then, for the 
last thirty centimetres of their length, vertically. 
When these are well established, one selects in the 
middle of each horizontal branch an offshoot capable 
of forming a second line of growth parallel to the 
first, and the process may he continued indefinitely. 
For the unilateral 
bands above referred 
to, two or three rows 
of branches are suffi¬ 
cient for a good yield 
of either apples or 
pears. For the ror^/oi? 
d iin rang, young trees 
of about a year old are 
selected and planted 
a bout two metres apart. 
I'hen when they are 
well established in 
their growth, one binds 
them by means of an 
osier to an iron rod 
about forty centimetres 
above the ground. 
Care must be taken 
not to bend the trees 
at a right angle lest 
they snap, but on an 
arc of a circle. The 
first tree is bound to 
the lowest rod, the sec¬ 
ond to the next higher, 
and so on. More than two thousand varieties of 
pears have been already produced by the skill of the 
Parisian nurserymen, but the amateur gardener will 
do well to confine himself to the well-proved varieties; 
those, that is, which are hardy and well-bearing. 
Such, for example, are the small and sweet fruited 
Doyennes, which ripen in July, the larger sized 
JVilham with a pale yellow fruit and a luscious 
fiavor resembling a muskmelon. This ripens in 
August. The sweet Beurres and the. Louises-Bonnes 
of excellent flavor and easy to grow, whose fruit is 
yellow, shot with red, and more especially the Bons- 
Chretiens, a large round pear of green and red 
coloring with brittle flesh, and greatly appreciated 
by gourmets. 
Apple trees grow equally well in granitic or 
argillaceous-silicious soils. Exposures to the north, 
northeast, or northwest are the best. But among 
the three or four thousand varieties there are a few 
which prefer a warm though slightly shaded ex¬ 
posure. Such are the CalviUes, the Canada and 
the Apis. 
The cordons lateraux and the pahnette are the 
forms best adapted to training the apple tree, 
though in some orchards one often sees vigorous and 
full-bearing trees with tall trunks and fully rounded 
out heads. As the apple is a fruit little appreciated 
in summer, when the more succulent cherries, 
peaches, apricots and plums may be had in abun¬ 
dance, French amateur gardeners cultivate the 
winter varieties of apples almost exclusively. There¬ 
fore the Parisian nurserymen devote their entire 
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